How to Beat Cliff in Pokemon GO - Counters and Lineup

Cliff remains one of the toughest Team GO Rocket Leaders trainers face in Pokemon GO today. His shadow team hits hard, shields well, and punishes weak type coverage. Let's follow LDShop through this breakdown of Cliff's current lineup, the best counters for each phase, and a few battle-tested tips that come from actually fighting him more times than we can count. If you are catching up on other ongoing content, our Pokemon GO 10th anniversary event guide covers what else is happening in the game this year.

Cliff's Current Pokemon Lineup

Team GO Rocket updates leader lineups regularly, and Cliff is no exception. As of September 2026, his team follows a fixed first slot with two variable phases after that.

Battle Slot	Pokemon Cliff Can Use
Slot 1	Shadow Axew (always)
Slot 2	Shadow Snorlax or Shadow Weezing
Slot 3	Shadow Tyranitar, Shadow Gallade, or Shadow Camerupt

Axew leads every single time, so you always know what you are walking into for the opening exchange. The real challenge comes from guessing which Pokemon shows up in slots two and three, since Cliff rotates between two and three options in each.

 

Shadow Axew: The Opening Fight

Axew is a pure Dragon type, and it folds fast to Dragon, Fairy, or Ice attacks. Since this Pokemon leads every battle, use your first slot to burn through his shields quickly rather than to deal maximum damage.

Good picks for this phase include:

• Mamoswine with Powder Snow and Icicle Spear
• Garchomp with Dragon Tail and Twister
• Baxcalibur with Dragon Breath and Icy Wind
• Gyarados with Dragon Breath and Twister

Cliff almost always shields your first two charged attacks in this matchup, so lead with a Pokemon that charges energy quickly. This forces him to waste shields early, leaving his next two Pokemon exposed. If you need a specific counter and do not have one ready, check our raid schedule to see when it might appear as a raid boss.

 

Phase Two: Snorlax or Weezing

This is where preparation really pays off. Snorlax is a pure Normal type, weak only to Fighting moves. Weezing is pure Poison, weak to Ground and Psychic moves. These two share almost no counters, so bring separate answers for each.

Against Shadow Snorlax:

Pokemon	Recommended Moves
Lucario	Force Palm, Aura Sphere
Machamp	Karate Chop, Cross Chop
Terrakion	Double Kick, Sacred Sword
Poliwrath	Counter, Dynamic Punch

Against Shadow Weezing:

Pokemon	Recommended Moves
Garchomp	Mud Shot, Earth Power
Mamoswine	Mud-Slap, High Horsepower
Excadrill	Mud-Slap, Drill Run
Mewtwo	Psycho Cut, Psystrike

Here is a tip most players overlook. Snorlax carries Lick and Zen Headbutt as its fast moves. Both happen to be Ghost and Psychic type, and Dark type Pokemon resist both of them. A Pokemon like Obstagoon or Pangoro will not hit Snorlax for super effective damage, but it survives noticeably longer than a pure Fighting type attacker. If your Fighting counters keep fainting to the fast move pressure, swapping in a tanky Dark type to grind Snorlax down slowly is a safer route, even though it takes longer.

Phase Three: Tyranitar, Gallade, or Camerupt

The final slot decides how the fight wraps up, and each option needs a different response.

Shadow Tyranitar is Rock and Dark, and it is double weak to Fighting moves, plus weak to Bug, Fairy, Grass, Ground, Steel, and Water. Lucario, Terrakion, and Conkeldurr all handle it well, and Primarina or Kyogre work too if your Fighting types are already worn down.

Shadow Gallade is Psychic and Fighting, weak to Fairy, Flying, and Ghost moves. Primarina with Charm and Disarming Voice hits it hard, and Togekiss or a Ghost type like Giratina also gets the job done.

Shadow Camerupt is Fire and Ground, and it is double weak to Water while also weak to Ground moves. Kyogre, Swampert, Greninja, and Gyarados all shred through it quickly.

Since you cannot predict which of the three shows up, a flexible closer matters more than a specialized one. Primarina stands out because its Fairy and Water typing covers Tyranitar, Gallade, and Camerupt reasonably well, making it a strong universal pick for the last slot. For a broader view of how these Pokemon rank outside Rocket battles too, our Pokemon GO tier list for 2026 is worth a look.

 

Building a Balanced Team

A single Pokemon rarely covers Cliff's entire lineup on its own, so think in terms of team roles rather than one perfect answer. We recommend covering three angles at once.

• A Dragon or Ice attacker for the guaranteed Axew opener
• A Fighting type paired with a Ground type for the Snorlax or Weezing split
• A flexible closer like Primarina or Kyogre for the final phase

Mamoswine deserves special mention here, since it handles Axew, Weezing, and Tyranitar all by itself. If you only have one strong Pokemon ready for Cliff this month, Mamoswine earns its spot on the team. Building a roster like this often means catching or powering up specific Pokemon fast, and a Pokemon GO top up can help you stock up on the resources needed to get there quicker. The best platform to make the top-up is LDShop, it lets players top up for less and it is a great way to save money.

 

How to Actually Reach Cliff

Cliff does not appear on demand. You need to defeat six Team GO Rocket Grunts first to collect Mysterious Components, which combine into a Rocket Radar. Once the radar is active, PokeStops marked with a Rocket balloon can lead to a Leader encounter, though the game does not tell you which one until you arrive. Cliff shows up roughly a third of the time, so patience matters here. Timing your grind around an active GO Pass season can also make the whole process more rewarding.

Losing the fight does not waste your radar. You can retry as many times as needed against the same Leader until you win, so treat early attempts as scouting runs to learn his current phase two and three picks.

 

Rewards Worth the Effort

Beating Cliff always grants 1,000 Stardust, plus two randomly selected item bundles from a pool that includes Revives, Max Revives, Hyper Potions, Max Potions, and a Unova Stone. If you have an open egg slot, there is also a strong chance of receiving a 12 km Strange Egg.

The biggest incentive, though, is the guaranteed encounter with his first Pokemon, Shadow Axew, after the win. Every Shadow Pokemon caught this way carries a 1 in 64 shiny chance if it is shiny eligible at the time. If you want to see how Cliff fits into the wider event calendar, our Pokemon GO x Pokemon Horizons celebration event guide has more on what else is running alongside Rocket takeovers.

 

Conclusion

Cliff continues to test trainers with his mix of Dragon, Normal, Poison, Rock, Psychic, and Fire and Ground typing across three phases. Knowing his fixed Axew opener and the two branching paths after it lets you build a team that handles almost any combination he throws out. Pokemon GO rewards preparation more than luck in these Rocket Leader fights, and Cliff is a good example of that. Bring the right counters, bait his shields early, and the fight becomes far more manageable than it looks on paper.